Prof. Ilit Ferber teaches philosophy at Tel-Aviv University.
Her research focuses on the philosophy of emotions, especially melancholy, suffering and pain, from the perspective of language. Ilit has published articles on Leibniz, Herder, Freud, Benjamin, Heidegger, Scholem and Améry. She has also co-edited a book on the role of moods in philosophy, and two books, in English and Hebrew, on lament in Gershom Scholem’s thought.
Ferber's book Philosophy and Melancholy: Benjamin's Early Reflections on Theater and Language (Stanford University Press in 2013) explores the role of melancholy in Benjamin's early writings and discusses the relationship between Benjamin, Freud and Leibniz.
Her second monograph Language Pangs: On Pain and the Origin of Language (Oxford University Press, 2019) explores the role of pain in Herder's theory of the origin of language, Heidegger's seminar about Herder, and Sophocles' "Philoctetes".
She is now working on two parallel projects:
(1) Jean Améry's philosophy of temporality (funded by the ISF)
(2) The role of acoustics in Walter Benjamin's work.
For Papers and more: https://telaviv.academia.edu/IlitFerber
